also in french, spanish, portugues (but not all pages in all languages – in english only these with an actif link)

The NGO national platforms bring together most NGOs (development, emergency and environmental NGOs) that work on a daily basis with the most marginalized populations. They are hence best-equipped to understand the impacts of globalization, the causes of poverty and underdevelopment and the direct consequences of the public policies carried out by national, regional and international institutions … (overview 1/2).

Overview 2/2: … To give an account of the realities witnessed by their members on the field, NGO national platforms, in their advocacy activities, perform the following tasks: close vigilance, follow-up of regional and international intergovernmental negotiations, dialogue and pressure on their governments and on concerned institutions.

As representatives of most of the non governmental sector of their country, NGO national platforms often interact as privileged partners of their governments. They are thereby able to effectively influence the positions defended by their country on major development issues.

This section «non governmental diplomacy» presents position documents, recommendations, analysis and counter-appraisals promoted by one or several national platforms, on major regional and international issues. These documents show the richness of the diversity of voices of organized civil societies from the North as well as the South, on themes as diverse as development financing, G8 and WTO follow-up, human rights, environmental protection, etc.

This exercise, which our organizations have labelled « non governmental diplomacy », was inspired by a document written by Jorge Eduardo Durão, former director-general of ABONG, and Henri Rouillé d’Orfeuil, president of Coordination SUD. titled Role of NGOs in public debate and international relations .

About the role played by NGOs on the international scene today, you can see also the book by Henri Rouillé d’Orfeuil, published in 2005 (Editions de l’Atelier, La diplomatie non gouvernementale. Les ONG peuvent-elles changer le monde , which remains a reference. This book has been published in spanish, La diplomacia no gubernamental, Puedan las ONG cambiar el mundo?, a co-edition of LOM Editions and the Alliance of independants editors.